The appeal of many of 1994’s new artists was that their debut albums excited me enough to care about what came next. Operating in the shadows of Nashville’s biggest stars, their major-label recordings were sufficiently promising to catch my ear and pique my interest. This was certainly the case for Steve Kolander and Jesse Hunter. Jon Randall falls into that same camp.
The history of his debut album is interesting. What You Don’t Know was recorded in 1994 on RCA. Two singles were released to radio that same year before the album was to be officially released, “I Came Straight to You” and “This Heart.” The former didn’t even chart and the latter stalled at #74. A month before its release date, the label shelved the project. There was a significant shake-up at RCA Nashville and Randall’s album got lost in the shuffle. It would not be officially released until June of 1995. That promotional delay right out of the gates all but condemned this album and Randall’s recording career to the dustbins of nineties country music.
It almost sounds silly to say about someone of his stature, but Randall deserved far better than he got as a solo artist. He had been in Nashville since 1987. He worked the obligatory odd jobs before landing a gig with Holly Dunn’s band. He would follow that with stint as the acoustic lead guitarist role in Emmylou Harris’ new Nash Ramblers band. At just twenty years old, he would win a Grammy in 1992 for his contributions to Harris’ album, At the Ryman.
That exposure helped secure his recording deal with RCA. Randall was signed by Garth Fundis who was the Vice President of A&R at RCA Nashville at the time. Fundis would co-produce What You Don’t Know with Sam Bush.
The album sparkles and is quietly beautiful. In New Country, Tom Lanham said, “What You Don’t Know stands as a fairly adventurous outing.” There is a gentle bluegrass sensibility to the whole affair. Steel guitar, fiddle, and mandolin figure prominently in the production. Randall’s high tenor nestles in with the lovely largely acoustic performances ringing with warm harmonies by the likes of Trisha Yearwood, Vince Gill, Lari White, John Cowan, Emmylou Harris, and Andrea Zonn. Sonically and energetically, the album keeps good company with Jamie O’Hara’s Fundis-produced 1994 debut Rise Above It.
Randall, who would later pen some massive songs for other recording artists, is only afforded one songwriting credit of his own here, a departure from the pattern of previous Flashback artists who had the surprising freedom to record an album’s worth of their own material. Randall would, however, record songs written by Kevin Welch, Jim Lauderdale, Carl Jackson, and Tony Haselden.
My favourite tracks are “If Blue Tears Were Silver,” “To Pieces,” and “Tennessee Blues.” “What You Don’t Know” is the most compelling song on the album. “Only Game in Town” might actually be the best.
This album is not earth-shattering, but it is rock solid. You can hear a break-out talent at work. Randall capably walked the line between Neo-traditionalism and contemporary country music. He recorded two other solo projects that were actually released, 1999’s Willin’ and 2005’s Walking Among the Living.
Although Randall is now best known for his production work with artists like Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and Parker McCollum, it is fun and rewarding to listen to him here when he was first trying to make his own mark as recording artist and cut through the noise of nineties Nashville.
I first heard Jon Randall when he sang with Lorrie Morgan on “By My Side.” I thought he sounded so much like Vince Gill on that song! I loved that song and kept him in mind, but I don’t think I heard other music from him until I bought Walking Among the Living years later. Then I was able to see him open for Vince Gill in 2006 wen I lived in Kalamazoo, MI. for grad school. This was a dream come true, since it was also my first time seeing Vince Gill in concert. I’ve been a fan of Jon Randall’s ever since and I think I have all of his albums that are digitally available, including this one, which is pretty good, though I like Walking Among the Living the most of his albums.
I actually remember hearing the title track– which slaps, even still– on the radio a handful of times. I actually purchased a used copy of this one back in the late 90s based on that single, and… it’s all right. As you said here, you can hear Randall’s obvious talent– and as Leeann noted, his obvious parallels to Vince!– even if the songwriting isn’t consistently up to par.
I wrote him off a flash-in-the-pan hybrid of Billy Ray Cyrus and Vince Gill back in the “I Came Straight To You” days on CMT. I would never have imagined how relevant and impressive he’d become and would remain three decades later.
If I HAdnt Reached for the Stars is my favourite song on this.
I think someone at New Country magazine once described him as something to the effect of “Vince Gill in too-tight pants”. Love that line.
I once had a CD single of “She Don’t Believe in Fairy Tales” out of a cutout bin, with zero idea who this guy was. Then later I realized, “Oh yeah, he’s the guy on ‘By My Side’ that I never heard anyone mention the name of” and found some of his other songs — right around the time WATZ added “I Shouldn’t Do This” and I found out Jon co-wrote “Whiskey Lullaby”.
So yeah, consider me a fan.